Blueberry and Peach Jam Scones

We’ve been back in Germany for over a week now. We’re slowly settling back into old routine and making a move toward some new, as summer makes it’s gradual shift into autumn. Instead of seeking out small patches of shade from the glaring sun, we’re now watching the leaves turn from green to reds, browns and golds. We’re hunting among fallen leaves and that sweet earthy smell for autumn seeds and creepy crawlies, spiders being of great interest to a certain little boy at the moment. The vegetable garden I planted in the spring is over, now looking slightly sad and neglected, waiting to have it’s weeds pulled and soil turned.

It is looking like we have left the late summer rain behind us and are moving into my favourite kind of days, beautiful sunshine with a crisp cool breeze. I’m watching with anticipation as the small mountains outside of our living room window slowly change in colour, this will be the last time we will be able to watch them in this way. This year marks the last of our 3 in Germany and we will have moved on to another home by autumn next year, as military families so often do.

I can’t think of a much better way to acknowledge the changing of the season than to finally be able to use the oven without fear of overheating the house, to bake some goodies with late summer and early autumn fruits.

Blueberry and Peach Jam SconesThis recipe makes a whole lot of scones, depending on their size. I made 4 large scones and 6 smaller ones, so you’ll probably get around 18 normal sized.

6 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks butter, straight from the fridge
2 cups milk
around 1/2 cup peach preserve
8 ounces blueberries, we still have the last of the fresh ones popping up at our market, but you can use frozen so long as you thaw them first.
1/4 cup raw demerara sugar

Preheat your oven to 425F

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small cubes, about 1/2 inch and add to the mixture. Use a pastry cutter (or two knives) to cut the butter into the flour mixture until it is crumbly. Add 1 1/2 cups of the milk and stir. If the dough begins to form a ball, remove it. If it does not, then add more milk, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough begins to stick together into a ball.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, pat the dough out into a rectangle that is about 1/4 of an inch thick, around 12 by 10 inches. Spread the peach preserve onto half of the dough and arrange the blueberries in a single layer on top of that. Fold the plain dough over the top of the blueberries to make a 12 by 5 inch rectangle. Cut the dough into triangles and sprinkle the top with the raw sugar.

Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes, until the scones turn a light golden colour. Serve warm or at room temperature.

11 Comments

It’s bittersweet to start a year of “lasts” isn’t it? This is our last fall here as well, and as much as I don’t like being cold (being from Texas, I could never get too accustomed to sub-freezing temperatures), I will miss it here. When do you guys leave?osarah´s last post ..Ten on Tuesday vol 19

We haven’t got a definite date (as things usually go with the Army!) but it’ll be 3 years here next Spring, so probably around then. Hubs is already talking with different people about where we’re headed to next and I think the final decision is to be made in the New Year. I’d personally love to stay, if we could move off post, but I don’t think that will work out.

I don’t mind the cold so much, the temperatures here are so close to how it is in England that i feel right at home Satakieli´s last post ..Blueberry and Peach Jam Scones